Slovakian startup InoBat has selected a location for its gigafactory for manufacturing and recycling batteries. The move follows earlier preliminary agreements signed with the Government of Serbia.
InoBat said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Serbia’s Ministry of Finance and the Municipality of Ćuprija, a town in the central part of the country, on building its second gigafactory.
“We are pleased to announce Ćuprija as the location for our Serbia gigafactory and recycling project code-named Lion, which has been under development for the past two years with the International Financing Corporation (IFC),” it added.
According to the firm, Lion will be its second gigafactory in Central and Eastern Europe.
InoBat also said that the Serbian government is prepared to offer an incentive package of EUR 419 million for project Lion. The facility will assemble energy storage (ESS) solutions, electric vehicle (EV) batteries and recycle batteries, the company revealed and vowed to align the activities with its comC2C circular value chain development platform.
In November 2022, InoBat signed preliminary agreements with the Government of Serbia on the construction of a gigafactory.
One of the investors in InoBat is Rio Tinto, which has been developing a lithium mining and processing project in the country. Following mass protests throughout Serbia and other forms of public pressure, the government decided to halt it. However, there are indications that the project could be revived, so the deal with InoBat makes it even more likely.
Marian Bocek, InoBat’s CEO, said it has selected Ćuprija because of its welcoming and eager local community and a hands-on and proactive municipal government.
“Another major plus point is the potential for co-developing our own distributed power smart grid and electricity from renewable sources for own consumption,” he added.
(eKapija, 26.09.2023)
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